The Return of B

Time flies when you're having fun?
I meant to blog through med school and here I am at the completion of M2, with no med school entries to be seen.... Oops!

Wow, have things changed in 2 years!
School has been tough, but great! It's amazing how many amazing people you meet and how much you learn (and how much is left to learn) in 2 years!

However, the reason I'm back posting here is, unfortunately, not to brag about how well things are going.
I found out 2 weeks ago that I have Breast cancer. 30 years old, no family history. I
'm coping as well as can be expected, but am hoping this blog will be a good place to talk about what I'm going through.

I'll let you know if my 2 years of medical knowledge ends up being a blessing or a curse!

Searching for a Replacement B

Credit to this blog, who knows where they got it from: http://lifeasmission.com/blog/2009/09/an-open-letter-to-my-friends-in-hr/

The weirdest thing in my short career in HR happened today (trust me, that's saying a lot!)... I posted an advertisement for my own job!

Once I sent out the internal postings, I immediately got a slew of emails. "B? Isn't this your job?" Which leads to "where are you going B?"
I'm lucky to work with some individuals who are my good friends (I wouldn't dare call them colleagues--we've been through thick and thin).
My very good and very devious friends!(Absolutely one of the reasons I love them).
We've decided that we are going to start a few eccentric rumors about where I'm going.

Won the lottery and off to travel the world? Sure!

Being sent to an inpatient psych facility? Why not! I mean they do drive me crazy there.

Obviously, I haven't told everyone I was leaving and why. It started with me not wanting to tell everyone about it, because I was afraid that if I failed it would be truly embarrassing to stick around. It ended with me thinking, its not their business! Of course, I told those devious friends I mentioned earlier.

I also told my boss.

I went back and forth about that one for a while. I wasn't sure how supportive my boss would be when I told her that I was leaving. It turns out that I lucked out! My boss is one awesome lady. She even ended up writing me a letter of recommendation. I don't think there are many people who can say that they have a boss that was willing to help them move on!

One of these days, I'll tell the story of why I'm working in HR and why I'm going to Med School. Today is not that day!
Happy Friday all!

Nested

Life goes on as I wait for med school to start. I get a little more anxious as I wait for my financial aid package (bah! so much debt!) and as I try to figure out the logistics of moving across country.

When S and I moved into our current apartment, we thought that we'd be here basically forever -- so we nested.
We bought "new" furniture. And by new, I mean we bought it off of craigslist. We're too poor for actual new furniture items. Also, Ikea stuff is pretty much crap--if I'm going to buy something from Ikea, I'll buy it for 1/2 price off of craigslist, thank you very much. Plus, craigslist Ikea stuff is usually already assembled, so I get to skip the frustrating part!

Anyway...

Here we are now with a bunch of grown up stuff, like furniture, wine glasses, and towel sets. Are we supposed to move all of this stuff 2000 miles?? My suggestion is just sell/donate/trash nearly everything and repurchase what we need once we get there. However, I hate the idea of rebuying all those little things. For example, we are definitely not moving across the country with our toilet plunger, but what do we do? We trash it and then spend our hard earned cash on a new one? That's not something I really want to fork money over for, but if we needed it and didn't have it--we'd be in a pretty bad situation.

Well we still have four-ish months to sort out the toilet plunger transportation issues, so I'll let this slide for now.

Now here's my promise to you, potential future readers of this blog: I solemnly swear to not turn this into a place where all I do is rant and complain about life. I am very much a whiner. I'm working on it.

Any advice on cross country moves?
I have no idea how to find an apartment across the country without spending large sums of money travelling back and forth. Any advice on how to deal with that?

B Wastes Time

And now we wait...

So I have deposits in at 3 schools and I just have to sit back and wait and see if S can find a job in any of those areas. 

After years of filling every waking moment with classes, volunteering, studying, or working, I feel like I should be doing something productive. Instead, I'm sitting around reading page after page of www.failbook.com and snorting as I laugh (yeah, sometimes I snort--don't judge me!).

Also, there is definitely something stuck under my comma key. I have to really put some effort into pushing down the key and adding a comma to my texts. Which is pretty sad, since I do love a good comma. Not to mention the fact that I don't want to think about what kind of food is stuck under that key...

At least I signed up for a medical Spanish class the other day. I had the thought that I could fill my free time with a Spanish class, thought that medical Spanish would definitely be a good refresher (I lived in Costa Rica for a year; you'd think I'd be fluent), and signed up for an online class that started that same day. I'm all about jumping in! I wish it were an in person class, but my pup just started an obedience class and the only medical Spanish class I could find was at the same time. 

My loves (other than S, of course!):

Arthur (AKA Arty pants) getting kisses

I'd rather have a less crazy dog. :/

Dana dog - the crazy, fluffy one

 

Thanks but no thanks

I just returned from a decent workout-- a circuit training class at work that kicks my butt!

If I have to do one more lunge, I will scream!

On the drive home from the class, I was still sweating and quite smelly (definitely not those ladies at the gym that do their hair and makeup before they walk slowly on the treadmill) and I started thinking about how I don't workout as much as I tell my doctor I work out (don't tell on me! Also, don't tell my dentist that I don't floss twice a day!). 

I'm still months away from even starting medical school and I've already started to worry that I will become a hypocrite. I wonder how can I be expected to tell my patients that they need to workout 3-4 days a week, when I don't hold myself to that same standard? 

At least I'm trying to improve?? Right?? "A for effort"??          

                                                                                            

Meanwhile, back in reality, there will many more pressing concerns and difficult ethical dilemmas to deal with. Just a thought I had in my post-workout glow (AKA sweaty mess).

Over in med school application land:

I formally withdrew my application from a school I was on a waitlist for. 

I really didn't see myself going to school there and I, luckily, have offers from 3 schools that I would love to attend. 

Honestly, part of me felt like I needed to "reject" them before they could reject me. Also, I didn't really love the area and the facilities were shared with PA, podiatry, nursing, and PT students--which at first was a selling point (team work!), but ended up feeling kind of crowded. 

Would I have gone here if I didn't get in anywhere else? 

Absolutely! 

I still would have walked out the door with MD after my name and that is the goal! 

However, I think I would be much happier at one of the other schools, so why waste their time considering me--maybe some other pre-med will get pulled up in consideration because I'm out.

It's pretty funny how difficult it was for me to send in the withdrawal  Especially considering how easy it's been for some of the schools to reject me. I guess I felt nervous about eliminating one of my options. Yes, I didn't want to go there, but at least I (maybe) had the option to go there. I think that's why I am still holding 3 acceptances. I have favorites and they are ranked in my mind, but I like the idea that I can still change my mind. I have three months to make a decision. Three months is a pretty long time. A lot can change in three months.I can learn more about the schools and the areas, maybe my ranking will change? Plus, my boyfriend S. is coming with me--this gives him the option of 3 regions to try to find a job in, rather than just one.

I'm good at making decisions under pressure and living with the consequences of my decisions. However, if I have a lot of time to consider things before I make my decision, I will milk it and drag it out to the last minute.

Is anyone else indecisive like that? Do you hem and haw over decisions when you have the luxury of time?

Night all! Hope you got a good workout in today, too!

B Gets a Redo

Now this is the story all about how 

My life got flipped, turned upside down 

And I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there 

I'll tell you how I became ...

No, I wasn't born and raised in west Philly and I've never been to Bel-Air. However, I have my own story.

I'd like to be a doctor and I'm finally on my way. 

It hasn't been an easy road to get to this point and the foreseeable future's not looking too easy either (Med School's a breeze! Right??). I'm 28 years old and this is technically career #3 for me (stories for an other day). I'm in the end game of med school application season and fortunately things are looking bright for me! I have 3 acceptances and a lot of decisions to make.  

We will see where this leads!

(Another early 90's reference -- at least Doogie was a non traditional med student, too)